The UK’s National Quantum Computing Centre hosts an annual hackathon aimed at early-career quantum computing developers to give them the opportunity to work on real-world use cases provided by quantum computing end users across a variety of sectors. The event aims to investigate quantum solutions for industry-provided use-case problems across different sectors and application domains; help create an active quantum computing community spanning the whole value chain from quantum computing providers, to quantum developers and end users; enhance connectivity between quantum computing providers and end-users, enabling discussions on both opportunities as well as limitations of current technology; and increase awareness of quantum computing and potential use cases to research students and early-career scientists (Masters, PhD and Postdoc level).

Since 2022, the UK Quantum Hackathon has brought together 247 participants to develop 47 industrial use case problems with access to 15 quantum computing providers. In this poster, we present our learnings and recommendations from the past four years for hosting cross-sector quantum hackathons to maximise the benefits for each stakeholder group involved. We also outline a variety of considerations for best practices, including: 1) embedding responsible and ethical quantum computing practices, 2) ensuring quantum hackathons are accessible and equitable, and 3) defining measurable goals and outcomes for each stakeholder group.

Keywords—quantum computing, hackathon

Recommendations for best practices

Embedding responsible and ethical quantum computing practices

Ensuring quantum hackathons are accessible and equitable

Defining measurable goals and outcomes for each stakeholder group

A selection of images from UK Quantum Hackathons 2022-2025

As a microcosm of the NQCC’s ‘SparQ’ quantum readiness programme, the UK Quantum Hackathon enables early-stage application discovery, provides access to quantum computing resources across different hardware modalities, facilitates networking within the quantum ecosystem, and develops the skills of developers through inquiry-based learning.

Hackathon teams work on a variety of practical use cases provided by quantum computing end-user organisations, resulting in the publication of a technical report which outlines the technical progress carried out at the event. Some teams also go on to further develop their solutions with the end-user organisation after the event, resulting in technical publications.